Ocean City Free Public Library celebrated National Poetry Month

For Better or Verse, the Ocean City chapter of The New Jersey Poetry Society, recently held a reading at the Ocean City Free Public Library to celebrate National Poetry Month. Lillian Korista, who reads extensively in Cape May County, has been the president of the group for the past 15 years.

Becky Greene, program coordinator at the library, welcomed those in attendance and introduced the event. “This group has steadily supported the library for fifteen years, and it is a pleasure to work with them,” Greene said.

Eugene Ross, a group member, was the emcee of the program. One of his humorous poems that he read was titled “Pills” and began with these lines:

Where do they go
When they go where they go
On their journey, traveling south
How do they know
Where to go when they go
After they enter the mouth

Suzanne Koiro read “The First to Leave,” which was written after the first of her two sons went into the Navy. The concluding line was “He’s my son and now I wait.”

“I’m a lover of the ocean and the beach, and that’s why I live down here,” said Albina Martin, and this was reflected in her poem, “Symphony of the Sea.”

“An Obit for Etiquette” was one of former London resident Daphne Eberhard’s delightful readings.

Ashley Jackson, a seventh grader at St. Joseph’s Regional School in Somers Point and the youngest member of the group, has had her poems published in a collection of young poets in New Jersey. A bully was the subject of one of the poems that she read and was titled “Black Heart.”

“The Thieves,” written by Jill Williamson was a humorous look at the antics of squirrels.

Rae-Louise Porch, whose “generous spirit is expressed in her poems,” read “Dilly.”

Alma Pesiri, who has received awards from Montclair State College and Cumberland County Art Exhibit for a haiku poem, shared “Childhood House for Sale,” while Lillian Korista concluded the program with her work titled, “The Demo.”

“If you like poetry and want to come out and be creative, we’d love to have you," Korista told the audience. The group meets the second Saturday of every month from 10 a.m. to noon at the Ocean City Library.